Redwire (RDW) Stock Jumps 20% After Blowout Q1 Earnings and Record Backlog

TLDR

• Redwire stock jumped nearly 20% after the company reported Q1 2026 revenue of $97 million, up 57.9% year over year.
• The company ended Q1 with a record backlog of $498.1 million, up 71.1% year over year, and a strong book-to-bill ratio of 1.92.
• Gross margin improved sharply to 26.6%, up from 14.7% a year earlier.
• Redwire reaffirmed full-year 2026 revenue guidance of $450 million to $500 million, representing approximately 41.6% growth at the midpoint.
• Analysts at Alliance Global and Jefferies raised their price targets following the results, with management pointing to new contracts in the Andromeda program, lunar power systems, and Stalker drone systems.

Redwire (RDW) stock surged nearly 20% on Wednesday after the space and defense company posted strong first-quarter results, highlighted by record backlog and sharply improved margins.

Redwire Corporation, RDW

Q1 revenue came in at $97 million, up 57.9% from the same period last year. That beat was driven by growth in both segments — space revenue hit $52.7 million, while the defense tech segment contributed $44.3 million, much of it fueled by the Edge Autonomy acquisition, which Redwire has now fully rebranded.

The stock was trading up around 19.76% in Wednesday’s session, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the beat and the reaffirmed outlook.

Gross margin was one of the cleaner stories of the quarter. It came in at 26.6%, up from just 14.7% a year ago and 9.6% in Q4 2025. Management attributed the improvement to better bookings mix, movement of products from development into production, and tighter cost controls.

The net loss for the quarter was $76.5 million, though management noted that more than $44 million of that was non-recurring, including $42.5 million tied to non-cash equity vesting from the Edge Autonomy deal. Adjusted EBITDA was negative $9.2 million, but CEO Peter Cannito said that excluding discretionary R&D spending, the company would have been EBITDA-positive.

Record Backlog and Defense Wins Drive Momentum

Bookings totaled $186.5 million in the quarter, delivering a book-to-bill ratio of 1.92. That pushed total backlog to $498.1 million — a 21.1% jump sequentially and 71.1% year over year.

In defense, Redwire received more than $20 million in follow-on orders for its Stalker drone systems from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. The Marine Corps also made its first purchase of the advanced navigation version of Stalker Block 30, a system already fielded in roughly 250 units by the Corps.

The Stalker platform also participated in the U.S. Army’s Ivy Sting exercises, where Cannito said it was the only fixed-wing vertical takeoff and landing system present.

Redwire also secured a prime contract with the Belgian Ministry of Defence to build Belgium’s first national security satellite, along with a quantum-secure satellite contract under the European Space Agency’s QKDSat program.

Andromeda Contract Could Be a $6 Billion Opportunity

Redwire was selected as one of 14 vendors for Space Systems Command’s Andromeda IDIQ contract, originally valued at $1.8 billion over 10 years. Cannito said the program’s shared ceiling is now expected to increase to more than $6 billion.

The company also received a $12.8 million contract to supply ELSA solar arrays to Moog, and an additional $4 million from NASA to support pharmaceutical research aboard the International Space Station using Redwire’s PIL-BOX platform.

Cannito said the company sees roles in a multi-orbit Golden Dome architecture and continues to pursue lunar power grid contracts. Redwire’s Roll-Out Solar Arrays are positioned as a potential foundation for lunar grid infrastructure.

Full-year 2026 guidance remains $450 million to $500 million in revenue. The company ended Q1 with $175.2 million in total liquidity, including $145.2 million in cash.

Analysts at Alliance Global and Jefferies raised price targets following the report.

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